The SSS Ranked Villain's Return-Chapter 86: Bale, The Spear Hero

"First of all, not all of them knew how to fight. It almost seemed like they were given a hands-on lesson before coming here." Neraxis stated, earning a puzzled look from Celina.

"They did seem like amateurs, but what makes you think they were trained beforehand? To me, they seemed organized enough."

"That might’ve been the case for a few; however..." He walked up to the ones he had killed earlier and pulled one of the prisoner’s collars down

Immediately, a sort of barcode came into view, which wouldn’t normally mean much to the naked eye. However, he could read it perfectly.

"Traitors of Zara," he read, showing the barcode to Celina as her brows furrowed.

He continued, walking to the next person he had in mind, and soon, read the barcode aloud as well.

"Traitor of Pargonia." Neraxis dropped their bodies and dusted off his hands before turning to look at Celina right in her crimson eyes.

"Each batch has a certain way they fight. Pargonians are not fighters. They dabble in agriculture more than any other country," he explained and added, "Zara is an outcast country in the heart of a monster zone. That place is lawless, hence why so many people are skilled."

As the last of his words fell, Celina widened her eyes, as if enlightened.

"I see... I’ll have to learn a bit more, it seems. Do you want to take the lead?" she offered, and he steadily accepted.

"Yes. If the majority is from Zara, I know exactly how to deal with them."

He flashed a glance at Aella, who had been staring at him wordlessly all this time, and was met with a nod.

With that, he made his way toward where most of the footprints headed.

Tracking was just one of the many life skills he had picked up during his training days, and to say he was a great tracker was an understatement.

Because in just a couple of minutes, he managed to find the prisoners’ camp.

Surprisingly, a fair bit of them were gathered here; he could count at least 40.

Yet what really stood out were the people trapped in cages, with rocks constantly being thrown at them.

Read lat𝙚st chapters at fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓ Only.

However, one particular figure stood out the most.

A boy, who looked no older than Neraxis, with short brown hair and golden eyes, was locked up while shouting all sorts of vulgar words at the nearby prisoners.

Obviously, Neraxis knew who that was; they had met many times in the past before.

Bale, The Spear Hero. He narrowed his eyes, preparing to do something drastic.

But upon remembering Evangeline’s previous words, he managed to calm down, if only for a short moment.

Neraxis turned to Celina, before whispering, "I am going to go and deal with them. I want you to kill the ones who try escaping."

He then switched over to Aella. "Support Celina if need be, and also, protect Aurelia."

"Roger that, captain." she replied in a deep voice.

"..." Neraxis was speechless at her antics; therefore, he simply ignored them.

Standing up and locking onto the person who seemed the strongest, he used Sword Dash, appearing right behind him and severing his head.

The camp was immediately alerted, and he only managed to catch another 10 off guard before the rest suddenly entered into an arrow-like formation.

"Kill him!" one of the prisoners shouted, boosting the morale of the remaining prisoners.

However, before their morale could fully blossom, Neraxis used Simple Horizontal Slash, cleaving all but those in the very back in half.

And once they saw what had happened to their so-called friends, the prisoners scattered, just like he thought.

While Zara was first known for its unfavorable location, Neraxis was fortunate enough to know about their second trait.

Cowardice.

Soon, he spotted Celina dashing around, flinging her daggers from one throat to another, perfectly cutting their necks so the prisoners would die instantly.

Almost like a professional, Neraxis thought, noting it down in his mind.

The puzzle that was Celina was slowly being pieced together.

Now, while she and Aella were busy dealing with what remained of the prisoners, Neraxis approached the seven cages in total.

And the loudest of them all was none other than Bale.

Read exclusive adventures at novelbuddy

"Hey, you! Let me out of here already! How long do you think I can stay cooped up in such a cramped, shitty cage, huh?" Bale said in an arrogant tone.

Nonetheless, Neraxis was not going to act just yet, going one by one and freeing each cage, with the exception of the loudmouth.

Noticing this, Bale lowered his voice and put a warm, almost believable smile on his face."Come on, man, I need to go look for my spear. I’ll pay you a bunch if you just let me out already."

"Hmm," Neraxis hummed with amusement, watching the guy who was supposed to be one of the future heroes now nothing but a squabbling, immature kid.

However, his personality would not go excused, since even if now, there was a very little amount of corruption, in the future, it would be even worse.

"Who’s this?" Aella walked up beside Neraxis and glanced at Bale, who, once again, started losing his mind, trying to break the cage open.

"It’s a nuisance." Neraxis stated in a low voice, barely enough for her to hear.

"...Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly, worried.

He merely shook his head.

"It’s nothing that concerns you, Aella. But thank you for caring, though."

"I wonder, maybe it does concern us?" Celina suddenly butted in, appearing right in the middle of them.

[Haha, now what will you do? Include them in your plans, or keep them in the dark and do everything yourself just like you did in the past?] Evangeline commented with a gentle chuckle."

Even if her words meant no harm, Neraxis’s brows couldn’t help but flinch.

If I go down that path, what makes you think I would be able to keep them safe? I might even get them killed... I don’t want that.

[One way or another, they would fall into danger.] Evangeline said before adding, [You should know better than anyone, that despite how safe things appear, that is never the case.]

As her words fell, Neraxis was immediately reminded of his sister Elara’s death, causing his brows to furrow even deeper.

And soon, he made a decision, a vague one for now, but if things don’t change, and these girls don’t start avoiding him out of nowhere, then he would tell them everything.

"He is Bale." Neraxis whispered before proceeding to take a deep breath. "He is someone I am going to kill, whether now or in the future. But one thing is definitely certain: he will die by my hand."

Silence immediately descended, and he could feel his stomach churn at the thought of them pushing him away.

But they didn’t. They merely glared at Bale menacingly, making him freeze on the spot.

"H-Huh? What’s up with you two?" His startled voice resounded.

Neraxis heaved a sigh of relief, but before he could even process what was happening, Aella pulled out a strange-looking pistol, with a long barrel stretching out.

Soon, she aimed it right at Bale, before moving up toward his head.

"Any last words?" Aella asked coldly.

And to everyone’s surprise, especially Neraxis’s, as Bale’s arrogant face turned pale, and he suddenly tumbled and passed out.

"Pfft..." Celina held back her chuckle.

As for Aella, she twirled the pistol on her finger, and soon made it disappear back into her storage ring.

Neraxis was speechless at the turn of events, but Aella’s serious look made him focus on her.

"We are f-friends, so I’ll help you... if you don’t mind." she stammered slightly.

Celina followed with her usual nonchalant look. "Me too. I don’t want my training partner to be constantly sulking."

[Told you so.] Evangeline remarked, yet he was still lost in his thoughts of hesitance as well as betrayal.

Why...? Why would you help me?